November 01 , 2009

Get the Kids Out Fishing This Winter

I had the rare opportunity to sneak in a few hours with my oldest son (Justin) this weekend. He's just six and is "hooked" of course.; So often, many of us think that a day out on the water has to involve big boats, lots of preparation and expense, and having to deal with unpredictable sea conditions. Too often, we all (present company included) forget that that's not the case and so many other possibilities are typically available. I'd have to say that just about any fishing location (if you look around a bit) has something similar to offer, whether it's the back bays of the North East, the flats of the Bahamas, or the wonderful expanse of backcountry here in the Florida Keys. Today, we simply jumped in the skiff and cruised the flats on the ocean side of Key Largo. As you can see weather, wind, and waves were not a factor here! We worked on sight fishing (knowing what to look for), looking for bait, and improving his casting technique. All this as I tried to remember how to navigate a poling platform...lol. In the end, he caught and released his biggest barracuda to date, which was text book. I saw the fish, Justin dropped the bait in just right, and the cuda cooperated and didn't bite us off!

Key West, FL

Islamorada, FL

Ft Lauderdale, FL

Swordish day or night, Dolphin,Sails starting to show.

Bahamas

Wahoo

New Jersey Fishing Report

Stripers in Full Swing

Striper season is now in full swing up and down the Southern New Jersey beaches. In Avalon we are having the best luck trolling stretch 30’s in front of the local beaches on the shoals in 30 to 40 feet of water. Using this method we troll at 3 to 4 knots and are getting some big blues mixed in with the stripers. The stripers caught trolling are usually of the nicer variety.

Meanwhile down in the rips was also a good week. We were getting larger bass up until recently when a smaller, better eating variety moved in. The best method has been bucktails and live spot drifting the rips. Out in the bay, chunking bunker has still been the key, fishing around the cock and balls area. Some fish to 50 lbs have been taken this week. The ticket has been trying to get the freshest bunker available.

Â Â Â Â Once again this week the wind has hampered us to get in any offshore trips. We have heard that one party boat did very well this week boating upwards of 70 tuna. Most of the tuna were longfin in the 50 lb range. We will be trying to get out as we have had some great tuna days in November. We will be targeting longfin, yellowfin, makos and swords.

Islamorada Fishing Report

GREAT to be back and fishing in Islamorada. The weather this week was perfect! Light breezes with temperatures in the 80’s. Mostly sunny and the sea temp 82.5 WOW!! The water has been a clean green and by the end of week a pretty blue with a visibility of about 30’. The week did bring good catches of Sailfish and real nice Dolphin headed down the reef edge anywhere from 35’ to 90’. The War birds helped lots as they were all over the action. We are sight casting to all the fish, light 20lb spinning tackle with 40lb or 50lb leaders. Best bait has seemed to be the Ballyhoo. The reef and patch fishing has also been outstanding! Most of you know from talking to me over the summer that this is one of the best times of the year to MEAT fish. No pressure with so few people fishing [offseason] you have the whole island pretty much to yourself and the condition are just right. The life inside right now can’t be beat. The yellowtail and mangrove snapper are very hungry, averaging from 1 to 4lb’s and the mangroves 1 to 6lbs. Mixed in there have been a few schoolie Mutton snappers 6lb’s. The Cero and Spanish mackerels are rather abundant too; they just can’t resist the Gotcha lures with fast retrieve.
Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Some of the guys have been headed out to the humps and doing rather well with the Blackfin Tunas all on live bait. Pilchards are the prime bait for them and you need several hundred to make it work right. Again all light tackle, 20lb test with 30lb fluoro and 4/0 live bait hooks or the old reliable 5/0 circle hook. The fish have been averaging anywhere from 12 to 35lbs…lots of fun!! So, overall GREAT stuff going on down here and hope to hear from you soon!!

Massachusetts Fishing Report

First BIG One of the Season!!!

The OU Crew decked a nice one yesterday. After a two hour epic battle on a Penn 80, and a fish that put them through the paces, the guys sunk the gaff and the battle was won!

This Giant Bluefin Tuna dressed out at 692 Pounds!!!

Bahamas Fishing Report

The countdown continues. Three weeks till the OU Wahoo Season officially opens. Until then, second hand reports are gonna have to do! What I’m hearing is pretty typical. Good numbers of smaller “school” Hoo’s have shown up, and fishing improved as the first couple of cold fronts rolled through the islands. Twenty to thirty pound fish are the norm, with most of the reports coming from the western edges such as Bimini, Cat Cay, Cay Sal, and West End. I’ve seen a few bigge, like 60 pounders being caught sporadically, but it’s mostly the school fish that are dominating the action. This time of year, we like to keep the speed down, say around 8 knots or so. With the water temperatures still on the warm side, there are plenty of dolphin and a few billfish still around. Yes, both are still around this time of year. As we move into late December and January, and the water temperatures drop further, the action becomes really dominated by Wahoo, but there is still plenty of “by-catch” to be had in November and early December. We’ve had days that we caught wahoo, yellowfin, dolphin, and blue marlin all in one day in early December! That was quite a trip, with most of the action coming at Columbus Point off Cat Island.

The majority of our Wahoo season will be spent in the Abacos, but we do have 2 weeks of openings in late January into early February when we will be back down at Cat Island and San Salvador chasing 100 pounders! We may even be able to sneak in a trip to Diana Bank if anyone is game? Twist my arm…..drop me an email if you’d like to do some Wahoo Fishing this winter in the Bahamas!

Back by popular demand, OU has put together an open seating schedule for the upcoming Bahamas season. Pricing is per person, excludes gratuity, and is based on accommodations aboard the Over Under, 54' Bertram. Hotel rooms are available at an additional fee. Rates include breakfast and lunch aboard. Dinners, drinks, and transportation are excluded.

Key west

OU Open Boat NJ Trips

With the overnight bite turning on, we are going to start putting together open boat overnight tuna trips whenever we get a weather window to run. This time of year, the more flexibility we all have, the more likely to get out and load the boat. ANYONE WHO IS INTERESTED IN GETTING OUT, EMAIL OR CALL US! We will make a list and contact everyone whenever we see a weather window. Hopefully we will be able to get 6 people together and get out. We typically see the windows develop with about 48 hours notice.

Over Under is now on Facebook!!!

If you're already signed up on Facebook look for our new group Over Under Sportfishing and join up! It's a great way for Over Under and our customers to be interactive. Share your comments, pictures & videos! And it's a great way to put a Captain's face or a boat to a name.

Follow us for up-to-date audio and fishing reports on what we're catching on a regular basis. Search "fishoverunder" and follow us today!!! Also New on Twitter - Key West Charters